What is the state of the Perth Car Market??
Discussion
I saw some reports in the paper today, referred to in an earlier post. It said that that car sales at dealers were down 20% in November and 15% in December, year on year. It also said that due to a shortage of trade-ins some some dealers thought the prices of used cars might go up (so buy now!!). I am not sure I agree as getting a true view of the car market from a car dealer is akin to an estate agent telling you the property market has bombed (they don't tend to do this, in fact they sometimes lie).
I bought a 2007 Lexus GS430 in late November from the main dealer here (same colour as my ex-UK car). We were very happy with the deal (and the car, especially wuth the roads and driving style here). It was $20K cheaper than any equivalent Lexus of the same age and kms in other dealers in Australia. We toured other dealers looking at, for example, BMW X5s, Audi A6, Subaru Impreza / Liberty, Range Rovers, Jaguars. They all seemed pretty desperate to make a sale, but not enough to massively discount the prices they had set. Was it taking time to sink in?
I would be interested to think what others in WA / Perth think.
How is the market now? How is the premium market compared to bread and butter cars? There seem to be some cracking deals.
Best regards,
Marcus.
I bought a 2007 Lexus GS430 in late November from the main dealer here (same colour as my ex-UK car). We were very happy with the deal (and the car, especially wuth the roads and driving style here). It was $20K cheaper than any equivalent Lexus of the same age and kms in other dealers in Australia. We toured other dealers looking at, for example, BMW X5s, Audi A6, Subaru Impreza / Liberty, Range Rovers, Jaguars. They all seemed pretty desperate to make a sale, but not enough to massively discount the prices they had set. Was it taking time to sink in?
I would be interested to think what others in WA / Perth think.
How is the market now? How is the premium market compared to bread and butter cars? There seem to be some cracking deals.
Best regards,
Marcus.
I think the new premium car market has been given a hiding by luxury car tax. Even Lotus with its small presence here was doing 'drive away' deals that would be costing them tens of thousands.
It will be interestng to see if people like Mercedes and BMW are able to lower the pricing of their cars to generate more sales...though I should imagine if you were every in the market for $150K+ you would generally always have that sort of money available.
Lower in the market (sub $50K) there really are some good deals out there.
Holden is giving away SS badged cars for $40,000 drive away when they used to be $55,000! Most of the other manufacturers seem to be doing drive away deals at the moment to...its nice to see for once that the sticker price is the ACTUAL price and not thousands lower than the true cost and its also nice to know that if you were buying brand new now your not going to forced in to financing those one off fee's.
Around $35K there are plenty of hot hatches around but still not many bimmers (good ones :P) and cars of that ilk have fallen in to that sort of range.
I think that the car market is going to be mixed up for a while as everyone gets used to the new value of cars. Some dealers are selling demo or near new cars for the same or more as the brand new cars available as a drive away at other dealers.
As for the WA / Perth market the used market seems to have stalled. Watching carsales.com.au I have noticed the same cars just sitting for months now. A few months back I was feeling the market for a hot hatch and left my details with a few dealers...one called me the other day and told me he still has the same car I was looking at back then! I told him I'm waiting it out a while and he just sort of sighed an okay.
I think part of it is that people are watching their money and the other part is that (in my own experience) people dont want a 100,000km, previous shape Astra for <$10K when they can wander in to a Hyundai dealership and buy a brand spanking new car with more equipment and warranty for $13K or get a similar sized car with better safety and more equipment brand new for $15-$18K.
I guess another problem is that for a very long time the aussie used car market has been grossly over valued...people dont want to sell at low prices but they do want to buy at low prices.
I dont believe we will ever see depreciation like in the UK but I do hope value fall enough to make the market a bit more fair...especially as WA has always been higher than other states.
It will be interestng to see if people like Mercedes and BMW are able to lower the pricing of their cars to generate more sales...though I should imagine if you were every in the market for $150K+ you would generally always have that sort of money available.
Lower in the market (sub $50K) there really are some good deals out there.
Holden is giving away SS badged cars for $40,000 drive away when they used to be $55,000! Most of the other manufacturers seem to be doing drive away deals at the moment to...its nice to see for once that the sticker price is the ACTUAL price and not thousands lower than the true cost and its also nice to know that if you were buying brand new now your not going to forced in to financing those one off fee's.
Around $35K there are plenty of hot hatches around but still not many bimmers (good ones :P) and cars of that ilk have fallen in to that sort of range.
I think that the car market is going to be mixed up for a while as everyone gets used to the new value of cars. Some dealers are selling demo or near new cars for the same or more as the brand new cars available as a drive away at other dealers.
As for the WA / Perth market the used market seems to have stalled. Watching carsales.com.au I have noticed the same cars just sitting for months now. A few months back I was feeling the market for a hot hatch and left my details with a few dealers...one called me the other day and told me he still has the same car I was looking at back then! I told him I'm waiting it out a while and he just sort of sighed an okay.
I think part of it is that people are watching their money and the other part is that (in my own experience) people dont want a 100,000km, previous shape Astra for <$10K when they can wander in to a Hyundai dealership and buy a brand spanking new car with more equipment and warranty for $13K or get a similar sized car with better safety and more equipment brand new for $15-$18K.
I guess another problem is that for a very long time the aussie used car market has been grossly over valued...people dont want to sell at low prices but they do want to buy at low prices.
I dont believe we will ever see depreciation like in the UK but I do hope value fall enough to make the market a bit more fair...especially as WA has always been higher than other states.
Can't say i have noticed anything different in Perth so far. Dealers with overpriced cars willing to sit on them for 8 months at a time 
Been here only a year, but it always seemed to be same old cars at tsame old prices month after month. I am talking sub 50K tho, not sure about higher end stuff.
Been here only a year, but it always seemed to be same old cars at tsame old prices month after month. I am talking sub 50K tho, not sure about higher end stuff.
Ok ok, thank you for identifying a potential grammatical error. How about:
Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant
Two Sisters Reunited after 18 Years in Checkout Counter
Squad Helps Dog Bite Victim
Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors
Killer Sentenced to Die for Second Time in 10 Years
Perhaps I should be clearer - What are the current commercial characteristics of the Perth (Australia) car sales marketplace and how have they changed over the past few months? - gauntlet thrown...
Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant
Two Sisters Reunited after 18 Years in Checkout Counter
Squad Helps Dog Bite Victim
Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors
Killer Sentenced to Die for Second Time in 10 Years
Perhaps I should be clearer - What are the current commercial characteristics of the Perth (Australia) car sales marketplace and how have they changed over the past few months? - gauntlet thrown...
It's stuffed.
Same with the rest of the Australian used car market
Run arounds below 5k that appeal to first car buyers are still selling. Smaller cars from people downsizing are still selling. Commercial vehicle sales are way down and no one is buying prestige used cars.
The Oz used car market has always been over valued because the Australian Government has always restricted the viability of imports, both new and used, to protect the pathetic excuse we have for competitive cars. Not enough supply means people think they can ask big money for them. Doesn't work that way in reality.
Same with the rest of the Australian used car market
Run arounds below 5k that appeal to first car buyers are still selling. Smaller cars from people downsizing are still selling. Commercial vehicle sales are way down and no one is buying prestige used cars.
The Oz used car market has always been over valued because the Australian Government has always restricted the viability of imports, both new and used, to protect the pathetic excuse we have for competitive cars. Not enough supply means people think they can ask big money for them. Doesn't work that way in reality.
Gassing Station | Australia | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff